Chapter 28
MADDOX
This morning, she hadn’t been completely cold to me before she left the room!
Thanks to that ever-so-slight thaw, I had spent the last several hours in a state of utter bliss.
I couldn’t stop reliving the details of eating that divine pussy of hers, and dreaming of it possibly happening again tonight.
And could I be so lucky that it would even continue when we get home?
But as I reached the far end of the expansive hotel lobby, what I saw shattered my optimistic mood.
Callie and her friend Brie, finishing their post-lunch conversation, were waiting for me at the entryway.
And then, of all people to enter through the front doors—Gwen!
My mind rejected it at first. It couldn’t be her. It must be a lookalike. Plus, Gwen had made it abundantly clear she despised witches and wouldn’t be caught dead in Nightshade Cove. It had to be someone else.
Still… I quickened my pace across the lobby.
And then I saw Gwen notice Callie and step toward her, as a diabolical Cheshire cat grin twisted her face.
That evil, toothy smile was unmistakably Gwen’s.
Oh no. Oh fuck no. I broke into a full sprint.
I was in the midst of them in seconds, coming into earshot just in time to hear Gwen’s taunt. “We’ve been fucking and laughing at you behind your back for years.”
I put myself immediately in front of Gwen, blocking her view of Callie. “Gwen! What are you doing here? Are you following me now?”
“Ha! Please, Maddox. You’re not worth the effort. This is a work trip.” She scowled. “My stupid company decided to have our annual meeting here, so I’m stuck having to deal with all these filthy fucking witches for the weekend.”
I trembled with rage to hear her speak of Callie that way. “Watch your mouth, Gwen. No one wants to hear your bigoted bullshit.”
“Fine.” She leaned around me, eyeing Callie. “But maybe the wife would like to hear more about our time together? Like how right now, she’s on a trip you wanted to take me on! Did he tell you that, honey? The last time I saw him, he asked me to go away with him to Nightshade Cove for a weekend!”
I hadn’t been serious! I had only been trying to distract her from my non-functioning dick! Though that wasn’t much better. “That’s not exactly true…” I said hurriedly, turning to Callie.
“Not exactly true,” Gwen sneered. “Hear that qualifier? He doesn’t even try to deny it!”
“Gwen, walk away now, or I swear—”
“Swear you’ll what?” Gwen sneered. “Beat a woman in the middle of this lobby? We both know you’re too much of a limp dick for that.”
“It’s fine, Maddox,” Callie said evenly. “Gwen and I can have a conversation.” She gestured toward a quiet hallway branching off the lobby. “Over there.”
Brie stepped in then to say exactly what I wished I could. “Callie, I don’t think we actually need to deal with this woman.”
“Oh, you sure as shit are going to deal with ‘this woman’!” Gwen snarled. “I’ll decide when this is over! Me! You can mind your own fucking business, whoever the fuck you are!”
“It’s fine,” Callie said to Brie, leading us out of the public space of the lobby and into the unpopulated hallway. Gwen followed with a vicious smile, clearly believing she had the upper hand, as Brie and I trailed behind, defeated.
Once we were away from any observers, Callie turned to face Gwen. “Say what you have to say.”
“So you already know about me?” Gwen purred.
“I do.”
“And you know that your husband and I have been fucking for the last two years?”
“He’s my ex-husband now, but yes.”
Gwen scoffed. “Sure honey. He’s your ex-husband, yet here you two are on the romantic getaway he tried to take me on. Give me a fucking break.”
Callie chuckled. “Well, I guess you caught me.”
“I’ve got to tell you, sweetie, I have been with more married guys than I could count. Literally hundreds.”
Brie groaned in disgust.
Gwen ignored her. “And in all that time, not one of those men has ever talked about his wife with as much contempt as Maddox talked about you.”
“That’s not true!” I shouted.
Callie silenced me with a sharp glare. “Shut up, Maddox. I’ll let you know when it’s time for you to speak.”
I shut up, and Callie continued.
“I know all about how you two would talk about me. That’s why I divorced him.”
“This again!” Gwen threw up her hands.
“I don’t think you’d be this upset if you weren’t still hung up on him, and honestly, you’re welcome to him.
The more I’m seeing of you, the more I understand why you two were so well matched.
” Callie turned to me. “Maybe you’d like to go home with Gwen and live with her now? She’s clearly obsessed with you.”
“As if!” Gwen screeched.
My face crinkled in revulsion. “I never want to see Gwen again. She’s revolting. She’s garbage.”
Gwen actually recoiled at that.
“I was so stupid to think there was anything worthwhile in trash like her,” I said with sincerity. “I regret every minute I spent with her.”
“Oh please, with the amount of time you spent begging me for sex?” Gwen howled. “All you regret is the time you spent away from me!”
“She’s right, Maddox. I read the texts, remember.” The certainty in Callie’s tone gutted me.
Gwen laughed harshly. “I hope they were a fun read! Bet they gave you a thrill, didn’t they?”
“They made me want to vomit, actually,” Callie said.
“You are the most pitiful joke to him,” Gwen hissed.
“She is not!” I roared. “Gwen, you’re the one who’s a joke.”
But Gwen kept going. “The endless doormat, sitting at home, filling her days with shopping and waiting around for a man.”
“Honestly, why do either of you think I would care what you think of me?” Callie said. “You’re both such awful, disgusting lowlifes. Your opinions don’t matter.”
“Oh, I mattered plenty when your husband was begging me to bring him some relief from his bitch wife,” Gwen shot back.
“You might have felt like you mattered, but you never did,” Callie said, anger gradually boiling hotter behind her eyes.
“You’ve built your entire identity around being the forbidden fruit, the exciting prize.
But you’re no prize. All you are is easy trash with no morals.
None of those married men wanted to be with you because of anything about you.
They wanted to sleep around, and you were just there. You could have been literally anyone.”
“Oh, fuck you!” Gwen was falling back on her heels a bit.
Callie kept going. “It’s probably hard to admit the only special thing about you is how undiscerning you are.”
“Fuck you!” Gwen repeated at a higher volume.
I squirmed at Callie’s words. She was exactly right. Gwen was an ugly bigot who had offered me nothing but convenience and the cheap thrill of the forbidden.
And look what I had thrown away for that empty nothing.
“Anyway, I’ve had enough of this. We’ll be going now. Goodbye Gwen.” Callie started walking down the hall, Brie putting a protective arm around her.
That Callie was finally ending this flooded me with relief. I fell into step behind the women as they moved off.
But of course, Gwen rushed after us.
“Who the fuck do you think you are, walking away from me? I told you, I’m the one who decides when this is over! You’ll leave when I tell you, and not a moment before!”
“Gwen, enough!” I hollered.
But Gwen kept screaming at Callie. “You’re fucking delusional, you jealous bitch!”
“Gwen, this is over. Go back.” I tried to stop and physically block her, but she shoved past me.
“I’m the woman you only wish you could be! I take what I want from these guys on the terms I want it, and I leave them begging for more! You think you can judge me? You get treated like dirt, take whatever scraps he throws your way, and you’re the one left begging!”
“Just shut up, Gwen!” I commanded. “No one gives a fuck what you have to say!”
But she didn’t even respond to me. Her ranting was laser-focused on Callie, and it didn’t stop. “You’re exactly the kind of pathetic joke who gives all women a bad name! You’re a disgrace! You’re too weak to leave, too boring to keep him, and too stupid to see you never mattered at all!”
Suddenly, magic was crackling around Callie. Her eyes glowed menacingly with power while her hair whipped about.
“You think I’m too weak?” was all she said, her eyes flashing with rage and her voice deepened to a terrifying degree by the magic.
All three of us yelled at once.
I moved toward her. “Callie!”
Gwen leapt back in terror. “You’re a witch!”
“Callie, be careful!” Brie exclaimed.
But the magic only gathered in intensity, ferociously swirling around Callie.
“Maddox, you could have told me she was a fucking witch!” Gwen shouted in a bitchy tone, which was some trick. Usually, fear made you soft and vulnerable, but Gwen’s terrible attitude was somehow undimmed by her terror.
The magic blasted out of Callie, a wall of searingly bright white light slamming full body into Gwen. Callie’s deep screams of power merged with Gwen’s agonized shrieking as the light blinded us all.